A Retail Tradition Losing Its Punch
Black Friday once symbolized chaotic crowds, doorbuster deals and a one day only rush for the lowest prices of the year. Today, the landscape looks dramatically different. Major retailers are opening later, online shopping is surging and many consumers say they are uncertain whether the discounts are even meaningful.
“The integrity of the event is pretty much gone,” said Mark Cohen, former CEO of Sears Canada. He noted that Black Friday used to guarantee the best deal shoppers would see all year, but promotional pricing has since spread across the entire season. In many cases, the biggest markdowns now appear closer to Christmas rather than in late November.
From One Day to a Full Season
Retailers like Walmart, Target and Macy’s have shifted their approach, spreading promotions across November and reserving Cyber Monday for another burst of online markdowns. Stores such as Kohl’s launched holiday deals weeks earlier, while many brands stayed closed on Thanksgiving but kept discounts active online.
For the sixth consecutive year, more Americans shopped online than in stores on Black Friday. Foot traffic remains above average for the year, but growth has stagnated, according to Placer.ai. Surveys from the Bank of America Institute show fewer millennials and Gen X shoppers planning to rely on Black Friday for most of their purchases.
Spending during the Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday “Turkey 5” has also declined for two years in a row. Between 2019 and 2024, spending fell nearly thirteen percent. Deloitte expects an additional four percent drop this year, even though retailers continue to highlight doorbusters and limited time promotions.
How Black Friday Became Diluted
In the 1980s and 1990s, retailers spent months negotiating discounts with suppliers to engineer the perfect one day offer. Inventory planning had to be precise, pricing had to be compelling and promotional secrecy was essential. That level of orchestration set Black Friday apart.
As the event grew, competition pushed retailers to extend their sales earlier and across more departments. Stores opened at midnight, then on Thanksgiving itself, and eventually began running Black Friday offers days or even weeks before the holiday. According to Cohen, this shift diluted the urgency and made the logistics of staffing and inventory harder to manage.
Consultants note that extending the promotional window also made hiring seasonal workers more practical. Instead of staffing heavily for just one day, companies can train teams for an entire season of increased foot traffic and online activity.
Consumers Question the Value
Online shopping exploded during the pandemic, permanently changing expectations around convenience and pricing. Splitting promotions across November and December allows shoppers to stretch spending over multiple pay cycles, which many find easier in a period of high costs.
Yet uncertainty remains. Analysts say some promotions are disguising earlier price increases, and heavy discounting throughout the year has eroded trust. “There’s a lack of trust that they’re actually getting the value piece of it,” said Sonia Lapinsky of AlixPartners.
Brands including Gap, Levi Strauss and Under Armour launched their Black Friday sales on Thanksgiving with deals similar to earlier promotions. To Cohen, that illustrates the core issue: “The whole idea of creating urgency is kind of goofy and gone.”